Turkish companies Limak, Kolin and Cengiz have taken control of two electricity grids in Bursa and Sivas, according to a Friday announcement.
The Uludağ grid centered on Bursa and the Çamlıbel grid centered on Sivas were purchased for $940 million and $258.5 million, respectively.
The handover ceremony in Ankara was attended by Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek and Energy Minister Taner Yıldız, among other officials.
The three companies obtained a $973.3 million loan from five Turkish banks to buy two electricity grids from the government, Bloomberg quoted the chairman of Limak as saying.
The loans were secured from Garanti Bank, İşbank, Halkbank, Vakıfbank and TSKB, said Nihat Özdemir, the chairman of Limak.
In a related development, the Turkish government will require winning bidders at future electricity grid auctions to pay the entire fees in advance, the country’s Privatization Administration announced. The winners of previous auctions were allowed to pay in installments.